CHAPTER 446: WHO IS GHOST?

The pleasant dream took on the nightmarish end he was familiar with, but since he was lucid the entire time, Dante was ready to face it head-on. What he didn’t anticipate was for excruciating pain to course through his body at the moment of the impact.

A sudden chill bit into his skin just then, and he couldn’t help but draw in a sharp gasp, his eyes snapping wide open. His sight was shrouded in a blurry haze, so making out anything in front of him was impossible. His instinct was to rub his eyes in the hopes of ridding himself of the blurriness, but when he tried, his arms came across a hindrance.

Dante went static for a moment, then he tried pulling again. An image quickly formed in his mind. He was sitting in a chair. His arms were tied to the armrests. His legs were restrained as well. Feeling the cold, he realized that not only was he completely naked, but he was wet as well.

"Raise and shine, dipshit!" Someone said, their tone mocking.

The next moment, cold water splashed against his face, and his body shuddered from the chill. Gasping for air, Dante turned to the bastard who just put him through that experience. His vision soon cleared, but the face that met him was far from familiar. To put it bluntly, he looked like the average thug.

[Dante? Are you conscious?]

’Yeah. What’s happening?’

He tried to recall what had happened, and for some reason, that caused the pain in his body to make itself known.

[Do you remember the car crash?]

’Yeah...’

Someone stepped into his field of vision before he could ask for more. This time, it wasn’t just a random thug.

"Well, hello there. We finally meet again."

A toothy grin split his bushy beard, and his eyes peered through a bundle of messy hair. He was tall and built like a goddamn grizzly bear, and looked exactly like one with that thick coat he was wearing. It took Dante a moment before he recalled where he had seen him before.

"C’mon! Don’t tell me you forgot already!" He leaned forward, looking Dante in the eye. "I certainly didn’t forget you."

Dante met his gaze without faltering.

’The Daggers...’

[That seems to be the case.] Said Volcan. [An ambulance appeared soon after and took you, but from what I could gather, it was a fake.]

’Where... where did they take me?’

[It seems to be a building somewhere in New City. The purpose is unknown, but you have been taken into its basement. There is a powerful jamming field around the entire place.]

’Huh...’

It was the same before the car crash. Dante knew right away the bastards responsible for it knew about his diving capabilities. His focus returned to the hairy bastard. Finn had called him Henry, and Volcan had judged him to be a Level 4 Advanced cyborg. He’s supposed to be one of the Dagger’s top, and despite what his hobo-like appearance might suggest, he supposedly specializes in Diving and information gathering.

"Heeeeey!" The bastard slapped him a couple of times. "I’m talking to you!"

It was more of a light tap, but Dante felt the weight of the hand and the hard alloy under the rough artificial skin. In a fit of rage, Dante gathered his spit and launched it straight into the bastard’s face.

Freezing in place, Henry then backed away slowly. Reaching up, he touched the spot where the spit that struck him. His fingers came back bloodied, and his gaze returned to Dante. The next moment, he clenched a fist and swiped it, hitting Dante with the back of his hand.

Though it appeared like he had held back, Dante still felt like a sledgehammer had struck him in the face. Seconds later, he spit again. This time on the floor, and what came out was more than spit and blood.

"Not a squeeck, huh?" Said Henry, looking at the teeth on the floor. "Guess you’re a lot tougher than you look."

"The hell... do you want?" Dante said, feeling the metallic taste in his mouth.

"Aha!" Henry exclaimed. "Turns out you just need to hit it once or twice!"

The bastard laughed as he wiped the spit with a towel. Placing it on a nearby cart, he grabbed something else and turned to Dante.

"What do I want?" He said. "Many things, actually. For one, I want to know why we can’t dive into your MLP even when you are unconscious."

"... what?"

"C’mon, no need to pretend. It’ll only extend your suffering."

As the hairy giant approached him, Dante saw that he was holding what looked like simple pliers. Zooming in on it told a different story, however.

"Since you have an SRE installed, I’m sure you already know how to filter out pain." Standing beside the chair, he grabbed Dante’s left hand and brought the tool closer, putting the pinky between its pincers. "Still-"

Not wasting a second, he squeezed his hand, and the finger snapped off. The pliers had been set at the joints, so the D-grade Diamond Fist offered no resistance.

Though he watched it happen with his own eyes, Dante’s mind didn’t register it until the pain burned through the nerves on the left side of his body and reached his mind.

"Mother-FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

His scream filled the room, reverberating between its walls and causing the bastards close by to recoil.

"Oh shit..." Henry looked at him with wide eyes, then he burst out laughing. "Oh shit! I can’t believe this! You have the pain switched on!!? What a mad lad!"

The initial shock faded, and Dante gritted his teeth to suppress his shouting voice. He had always known about the pain suppressor—Volcan had suggested using it more than once before, but Dante refused to make use of it. He didn’t want to numb himself to the pain, especially the one caused by his armor’s strain. Reckless as he was, removing the one thing that warns him when he crosses the line was bound to lead him over the edge.

"Alright, alright, back to business." Cutting his laughter, the giant bastard brought his tool down and placed another finger between its pincers. "You don’t carry any exocore with you. How the hell do you have enough processing power to resist our Dives?"

"Fuuuck you..." Dante replied. A moment later, another finger went.

This time, he was able to suppress his scream, but that came at the cost of his teeth. He placed so much pressure on them that they started to shatter, leading to more pain flooding his system. Though he had experienced worse, it wasn’t like he had gained a tolerance to this level of suffering. Still, he refused to give the command to sever the connection to his nerves.

"Let’s go with an easier question." Said the torturer. "Where did you get those bionics?"

"Eat... shit..."

Another finger snapped off, and Dante struggled to restrain his screams. As he struggled to breathe, he heard laughter. It was the thug who had splashed him with water. The bastard was watching from the sides this whole time, and now he was laughing at the show.

"The questions so far had been personal, you see. I got a little curious."

Humor left Henry’s voice, boredom replacing it. He ripped off the remaining two fingers from Dante’s left hand, then walked away. Putting away the tool, he wiped his hands and turned to Dante.

"Now, I will start asking the real questions."

He picked a rod tool from the cart and started walking toward Dante. He pressed a button, and a sharp crackle came from the tool, accompanied by dancing sparks of electricity.

"Who is Ghost?" He asked.

"Go... fuck you-"

A painful current invaded Dante’s body. This time, he was unable to stop himself from screaming.

"How do we find him?"

Dante said nothing, continuing to pant. His body was electrocuted once more.

"Where does he get his tech?"

Seconds later, another scream echoed through the room.

"Are you from the Gear Cult?"

Another scream.

"I will ask you again." Said Henry, pulling away his electric baton. "Who is Ghost?"

"..."

Holding up the baton, Henry stared at it for a moment, then turned his gaze to the red-haired prisoner.

"When I heard about him the first time, I was surprised." The hairy giant walked back to the tool cart. "You don’t hear it every day. Someone is challenging the heroes."

Putting away the electric baton, he looked over the other tools.

"But, that’s what confuses me. If he’s after the heroes, why target us? What did we ever do to him?" Picking the pliers from before, he started toward the chair. "What does he want from us?"

As if reacting to that last question, Dante raised his head ever so slightly.

"You..." pausing, he spat the contents of his bloodied mouth. "You don’t know?"

"If we knew, we wouldn’t be having this conversation." Said Henry. "Now, are you going to answer my questions?"

Silence returned to the underground room, and the torturer let it last for some time. Seconds passed, and his questions got no reply. Heaving a sigh, he was about to go on with torture. That was when he heard it.

"Hahaha... hahaha... aaaAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"